JSkins has written the following articles:
Felix are Lucinda Chua (classically trained musician) and Chris Summerlin (him from Lords). Makers of the utterly strange, utterly wonderful October-released You Are The One I Pick, they do make for an odd pair. We asked them to write to us and clear up a few things. They complied... »
Thriving off the energy channelled their way, Bowerbirds are absolutely exhilarating this evening.»
The lead track on Felix’s debut album is called ‘Death To Everyone But Us’. It’s a brave opening gambit and seductive invitation to their dreamily pretty, bizarre world.»
Perhaps the best place to begin with the new Sufjan Stevens album is to state that it’s not, really, the new Sufjan Stevens album. It is, however, unmistakeably Sufjan Stevens: a lush, sweeping fantasia in turn virtuosic, opulent and quietly affecting.»
Port O’Brien's latest sees the band substitute bravado for dreamy, bereavement-informed reverie, on a record that warms and chills with profoundly magnanimous intent. »
At their best, The Get Up Kids don’t so much transcend the pop-punk template as they do command it. Guitar-based sugar-rushes of melody and feeling don’t get any better than this.»
Set against a backdrop of Michigan skylines, woozy piano and twinkling slide guitar, Fruit Bats' latest is utterly gorgeous. »
Green Man 2009 finally saw the sun shine gloriously upon its little corner of the Brecon Beacons, heralding an extraordinary assemblage of talent and perhaps its finest year yet. DiS had a ball...»
Although it falls a few steps shy of wowing unreservedly, Wye Oak's second LP remains a poised and compelling listen. Most encouragingly, it points towards a promising and sure-to-be-interesting future from its makers; one where light and darkness grapple over a sonically engaging, muscular backdrop.»
Where to begin with Mew? For over a decade they’ve turned out a heady concoction of rock music, flirting with shoegaze and progressive tendencies while maintaining an ethereal charm increasingly their own. Though their feet dangle in waters grandiloquent, they’re far from being swept away - their fourth seeing them take aim at something warmer and less elemental.»
"All good things have endings," sang The Get Up Kids, many moons ago. And so it came to pass: in 2004 the band made the decision to call it a day. Their story isn't quite finished yet, however. We caught up with founding 'Kid Jim Suptic for the lowdown.»
Far is a bright and gratifying listen; one that doesn’t aim at ideas above its station or flounder in search of unity. It’s simply the sound of Regina Spektor crafting the kind of impeccably sweet, sometimes dramatic and perpetually detailed songs she’s always sung best.»
Wilco love you, baby. Right now, that’ll do just fine.»
Short of a few thousand words, there’s really no way to sum up the impact Bob Dylan has had on popular culture, so let’s just go with ´seismic´. On Together Through Life he sounds energised anew, the result constituting a focused, absorbing and on occasion, utterly lovely LP.»
It’s easy to see why Conor Oberst fell for The Felice Brothers. Steeped in classic songwriting traditions, bar-room blues and tried-and-tested chord progressions, gracing Yonder Is The Clock with more than a cursory listen reveals a work of significant heft.»
Even given the current penchant for reissuing artefacts of this era, giving Expecting To Fly the box-set treatment does seem a little superfluous. But listening to it all some thirteen years down the line, such contempt seems sorely misguided.»
DiS ventures to Estonia to check out the inaugural Tallinn Music Week, where a host of fine bands and ornate venues await.»
Upfront of Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band's forthcoming new album Outer South, the band have teamed up with the Causecast coalition to bring you a documentary entitled One Of My Kind. And it's free! From the horse's mouth, then: Made by t»
Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn's fourth is as striking as anything she’s ever released – a seamless integration of emotional peaks and troughs the likes of which she’s spent a career exploring. It's ambitious, poignant, and yet another terrific album from a female singer-songwriter in 2009.»
Fascinating social study, riveting musical experiment or exercise in philosophical anthropology – Broken Social Scene member Charles Spearin’s The Happiness Project is at once all these things. More importantly though, it’s a brilliant, unique idea executed with real affection, and a genuinely heartwarming experience.»
A debut of sorts from its eponymous creators (responsible for bringing Perkins' previous LP Ash Wednesday to life on the road), Elvis Perkins In Dearland finds them in boisterous fettle, bristling with elegance, invigorating melancholy and opulent arrangements.»
Starsailor's fourth album arrives. Yay? Nay.»
Andrew Bird's latest finds him fervently ambitious and erudite as ever, drenched in pastoral tones and of a rich, fulfilling humanity.»
Through profound contemplation of mortality and all that comes with it, Beasts Of Seasons proffers us an arrestingly understated and accomplished whole, which should see Laura Gibson emerge from the shadows of her contemporaries (Colin Meloy and The Dodos included) with no little grace.»
Through his musings on relationships, creativity, politics and religion (mostly relationships), Tim Kasher has gifted us a brace of astonishing work over the years – as literate as it is visceral, deeply affecting as it is relayed with a commendable ear for a hook. That Cursive's sixth album is suddenly upon us, then, is cause for merriment indeed.»
The emphatically DiS-approved Green Man Festival has today announced its first raft of acts, and mighty fine they look too. We spoke to Managing Director of the festival Fiona Stewart, who has also kindly offered us two pairs of tickets which could be yours...»
The fifth album from New Jersey post-hardcore/emo champions Thursday sees them once more pair up with producer Dave Fridmann, offering a bruising, nuanced set where Geoff Rickly’s poetic leanings are offset by humongous riffs and occasional exercises in brooding ambience. If 2003’s War All The Time was a call, suggests Geoff Rickly, this is its all-encompassing response.»
In the second part of our interview with Emmy The Great we discuss Leonard Cohen, how to write successful music videos, world-beating gigs, bleakness/optimism, fears regarding mediocrity and one Samuel Beckett.»
DiS loves Emmy The Great. We really do. Last week we even celebrated wondrous debut album First Love's arrival by letting her take over the site. Turning the tables, then, here's the first of a two-part interview from earlier this month...»
"Hey Aaron, you know that charity compilation we're putting together?" "I sure do, Bryce." "Well, I had a few ideas." "Yeah?" "Yeah - how about exclusives from Dirty Projectors & David Byrne, The Books featuring José González, Feist and Ben Gibbard, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer, My Brightest Diamond, Kronos Quartet, Antony, The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, Grizzly Bear + Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Beirut, My Morning Jacket, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Dave Sitek, Buck 65, The New Pornographers, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, Riceboy Sleeps, Stuart Murdoch, Andrew Bird, Conor Oberst with Gillian Welch, Blonde Redhead & Devastations, Kevin Drew, oh - and us, The National, of course?" "Sound, bro!"»
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In Photos: Arctic Monkeys @ Wembley Arena, London
In Photos: The Flaming Lips @ The Academy, Manchester
In Photos: Moby @ The Palace Theatre, London
In Photos: Tegan & Sara @ Shepherds Bush Empire, London
